Councillor Jeremy Oates characterised Labours’ first budget as ‘Tax Tax Tax’ at a meeting of the full council last night. The meeting in which the budget was debated and eventually passed on the votes of the Labour group alone, was challenged and had attempts made by the Tories to be amended in ways which would have seen the proposed Council tax rise of 2.99% cut to just 1.5%. It would have also seen Tamworth Football Club be gifted the land they reside on, rather than rent it from the Council.
Naturally the Labour group, who despise the people of Tamworth and private enterprise generally, gave as was predicted by newly Independent Councillor Martin Summers ‘lots of reasons why this couldn’t be done’. Despite the fact that again as pointed out by Summers (who has apparently had to have his lips surgically removed from Oates’ posterior after last night’s meeting) ‘Oates has 20 years of local government experience, and he has given you a legal way of achieving this that still balances the books, if he says it is possible then it is.’ It was rather funny to see people with less experience combined, telling a Councillor with that much experience how local government finance works. Let’s not forget dear reader that Labour Councillors have had financial training. So that’s OK then.
Labour were having none of it though and every single member of the party other than Mayor Gareth Coates (who abstains to remain neutral) voted to reject both proposals which would have seen the tax burden on Tamworth residents minimised, and Tamworth Football Club being given a permanent home rather than the potential of having the land transferred to a unitary authority from underneath them, who would possible decide just to sell it for housing. Naturally a few ‘football fans’ decided to pop up on the Labour side, rather unconvincingly stating that whilst they supported the idea, they couldn’t just support the decision tonight. Yes you could Labour, yes you could. Nothing stopping you other than your hatred of ideas from opposition despite your overtures throughout the night that you value scrutiny and input from others. Laughingly, Councillor Natalie Statham tried her best to make out she was the hero within her group who challenged the budget the hardest. Apparently she attended a group budget meeting involving the Chief Executive Stephen Gabriel that went on ‘into the night’, which we were told on good authority lasted only 2 and a half hours tops.
As was picked up on, the budget presented had nothing ‘creative’ within it and no changes whatsoever that were of any significance. Unfortunately the people of Tamworth who have enjoyed free Sunday car parking on Council car parks since longer than we can remember, are going to have to stump up the cash now that Labour have introduced charges. Again this was challenged and had an attempted amendment made by Tory opposition to remove that from the budget and still have it remaining balanced. You can guess what happened to that proposal, but dear reader, apparently according to Labour it is the tourists who will be paying for it, and they won’t mind at all. What delusional world do these people live in?
The whole budget was identified as ‘officer led’ which essentially means that officers of the Council put the budget together for Labour, since they had no political nouse to do so themselves. Labour of course tried their tired old line that the financial situation they inherited meant that the finances were in a mess. As Councillor Tina Clements pointed out to them, the last budget the Tories presented in February 2024 was balanced for three years ‘what changed in the few short weeks between then and Labour taking power’. The factual answer of course being nothing. It didn’t stop Councillor David Foster deputy leader, standing up and saying that the budget hadn’t balanced last year, appearing to suggest that officers of the council had committed an illegal act by allowing it to be signed off, and didn’t Labour vote for it too? We’d love to know how the officers felt about that one. What we do know is that no Tory budget would have ‘savings to be identified’ and ‘savings reversed’ anywhere near it. Labour seem to think of taxpayers money as something they should hoard and keep to themselves akin to the Gringotts Dragon. It was pointed out to them that Tamworth Borough Council is not a savings bank for taxpayers cash, and money it holds should and easily could be used to be spent on them.
Talking of ‘savings reversed’, bless him, wet around the ears Councillor Lewis Smith and Councillor Marion Couchman had a small routine during question time where they desperately tried to shoehorn in the first figures for visits to their much lauded front desk reopening at Marmion House. Over 500 in three weeks apparently, and according to Smith ‘they weren’t all just there to see what the fuss was’. Given Labour have a habit of bussing people in from other constituencies to attend political hustings, we would not be surprised in the slightest to find they’d mobilised their voter base to descend on Marmion House. We will be more interested to see the ongoing figures, and you can be sure someone will ask. Labour of course are still pushing the idea that no-one else wanted a front desk and a permanent home for the Council, when of course everyone of all political persuasions in Tamworth absolutely does. They just didn’t want the cash wasted on Marmion House. Councillor Richard Kingstone reminded them that they could have also made do with using the Town Hall for meetings since the Council only has around three years left in existence and this saved the taxpayer money. He urged them to stop the procurement for new meeting equipment at Marmion House. Naturally this fell on deaf unbothered Labour ears. Kingstone also attempted (but tellingly didn’t propose as an amendment) scrapping Councillors allowances again. He was given short shift on this one, for essentially the same reasons we once outlined. Kingstone is apparently going to reject his allowance from May, although Councillor Coates told the room that he had tried to do so and it was impossible. There’s nothing to stop Kingstone handing over every single penny to a charity or group if he so wishes, so we shall watch this one with interest. It’s lovely that apparently Kingstone despite publishing his apparent monthly spending can afford to do this. What a hero.
In short, tragically Labour have utterly let this town down last night with their pitiful budget. That they are to be the last custodians of the Council until it fades away into nothing in a few years is a tragedy. There were lots of important ideas questions and proposed improvements to the budget last night, all of which were dismissed by an evidently whipped vote ‘against your conscience’ Labour group. Councillor Margaret Clarke made one contribution last night to remind Councillors that they should abide by the Nolan principles during the meeting, after the Mayor chastised those making comments under their breath that he could hear. We can only imagine how hard it is for opposition Councillors to stick to those principles when they continually witness a shit show of a political party piss away taxpayers money with no remorse, and no recourse.
Footnote: As we published this, we were reminded via the Mailbag of a rather amusing statement made by Councillor Craig Adams, that Devolution might not happen and that the Government could change it’s mind. What better example to show extreme delusion and unpreparedness on the Labour side.
